As fun as Minecraft is, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who would say it is because of the combat. In the game’s most recent update, 1.9, titled the combat update, Mojang is looking to spice things up.
Teased all the way back in April of last year, and recently delayed, update 1.9 is available now.
All “to make fighting more interesting,” the update adds shields, the ability to dual wield items (in and out of combat), new types of arrows, special moves for swords and axes, cool-down timers for combat moves, and even a new mob called Shulker.
Here’s a full list of the changes:
- Added shields
- Attacking now has a “cool-down” delay, making it more important to time your attacks
- You can now hold items in both hands (default quick key to swap items is ‘F’)
- Swords have a special sweep attack
- Axes have a special crushing blow attack
- Added the elytra
- New mob: Shulker
- Expanded The End
- Added Chorus plants
- New Purpur blocks
- New End Rod block
- Added dragon head block
- Ender Dragon can be resummoned
- Added beetroot and beetroot soup (from MC:PE)
- Added grass path block
- Added igloos
- Armor protection values have been lowered
- Added tipped arrows
- Added spectral arrows
- Added Frost Walker enchantment and frosted ice block
- Added a whole bunch of new sound effects
- Added sound effect subtitles
- Brewing Stand now requires Blaze Powder to activate
- Added skeleton riders
- We believe we’ve fixed MC-10 and a whole bunch of other issues
- Removed Herobrine
Posting on the developer’s website, Mojang added, “The arrow struck the shield with a impactful ‘thud!’. Steve peeked around the shield’s edge and saw the arrow was wrapped in a note! Steve excitedly pulled it loose to see what it said… ‘You’re happy you had that shield, aren’t you?’ And yes, Steve was pretty happy.”
What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments.